Mel’s 5 Second Review: The Strangler

I’d never even heard of this little film before seeing it pass on TCM, a channel that plays non-stop old timey movies. The blurb was interesting, so I decided to give it a go. The film was made in the time of the Boston Strangler, and the film makers decided to make a picture about what he might be like. They even spoke to detectives and psychiatrists to get an authentic character. And with all the true crime stuff that I watch, I can concur that they did a good, creepy job. Victor Buono does a very good job, as does the actress who played his over-bearing and controlling mother. The acting over all was quite good, better than a lot of old timey movies in the genre, and I was pleasantly surprised. The only thing I had to roll my eyes at was the 2 second strangulations. It takes a good 2 or 3 minutes of constant pressure to strangle a person, because even when they go limp, if you let go, they’ll keep breathing. Which is why strangulation cases are so awful, cause you know they held on for that long. Ick. Other than that it was very well done, and the film gets a good 7.5/10 from me.

This film is not currently streaming on Netflix. There is a full version on YouTube, but the colloration is weird.

Movies, shows, books, music, games, fashion, makeup, food, I love it all! I'm a 33 year old mother of a rambunctious 5 year old boy. I'm often bed-bound because of illness, so I have a lot of time to spend on entertainment. I enjoy reading all kinds of blogs with top 10 lists and the like, but am often frustrated when the top spots are reserved for the same old stuff that, most of the time, I don't really like. So I decided to start a blog of my own, and throw my two cents out into the gaping sea that is the internet. I'm really enjoying writing these posts, so I hope they reach at least a few people who will enjoy them too :-)
M.